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Highlights

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"I attained Red Mountain on a very hazy day due to wildfire smoke from B.C. The hike up the Commonwealth Trail is fine and beautiful. I replenished my water (2 qts) at Red Pond and headed up a clear bootpath that lies between a campsite and the little path down to the pond. Going up Red is interesting, but slow and cumbersome. Lots of loose rock, and you have to be careful not to lose the "trail" in 2-3 places. It's about 45 degrees most of the way. The summit is very nice, lots of deeply stained orange and red rock (iron oxide). The views in all directions are spectacular, even with the haze.
2900 ft gain, 8.4 miles, 8:30 hours." — markgarrett • Aug 2, 2017

"After attempting to summit Red Mountain two weeks ago and falling short, we decided to give it another go. Many of the same conditions existed (closed parking lot, parts of the trail iced over), but fortunately the creek/waterfall crossing right before the Commonwealth Basin Trail forks from the PCT had much less water and did not have the ice covered rocks that it did before. While there was more snow in some places from the recent snowfall, other parts of the trail were more snow-free than before. It's still a bit tricky navigating through Commonwealth Basin, but our experience from two weeks back helped us follow the trail and head up the switchbacks out of the basin without much difficulty. Spikes are still definitely needed, and a map and compass are still recommended as well. There are still some good snow fields to utilize to head up the summit as you approach the pass between Red Mountain and Lundin Peak. We cut off from that trail and headed straight up the side of Red, which is quite steep. There were no tracks at all, other than one set of animal tracks (I'm not an expert on tracks, but I presume a mountain goat), which went all the way to the summit.
It was a wonderf..." — BryHong8 • Mar 7, 2015

"After several great day hikes off the Mountain Loop Highway, we decided to look for a good snow hike on the I-90 Corridor. After reading trail reports for Snow and Gem Lake, we figured that Commonwealth Basin and Red Mountain would provide us with what we were looking for. The trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail is blocked off, so park in the Snoqualmie West parking lot and walk under the freeway and up the road to the parking lot for the PCT. The trail starts out very icy near the lot and then clears up and is snow free for a good mile before icing up again on the long straight stretch heading Northeast towards the fork in the trail. There is a great deal of snow runoff coming down the western slopes, and one waterfall and creek in particular proved challenging to cross in the morning, as the rocks one must use to cross were completely ice covered. Coming back it warmed up enough where the crossing was just wet, rather than icy. We tend to be pretty stubborn and don't use microspikes at the first sign of snow and a little ice, but current conditions on this trail really call for spikes. It allowed us to increase our speed as we reached the fork in the trail and headed down into ..." — BryHong8 • Feb 22, 2015

"Rainy, foggy, wet, soaked. A summit view into a fog bank. Lost the faint climbers path going up and scrambled up wet ledges. Lost it again going down. Only had a brief window to be out so pushed it a bit despite the slick conditions. RT in 3hr15min. " — scott • Sep 7, 2013

"A nice hike. The parking lot was full but I did not see to many people on the trail. I stayed off of the PCT and took the Commonwealth Creek trail. My GPS was at 6.8 round trip" — JakeRC • Aug 3, 2013

"From Kendall Peak, after scouting a possible traversing route from the catwalk across the south face of Red, we decided on heading back down the PCT to Commonwealth Basin and up towards Red Pass to stay under canopy and in known territory. A good choice on a sunny, 85 degree day as the exposed scramble to Red Mountain summit was almost too much to handle.
WARNING - The scramble to summit is a very steep Class 3, and there are extremely loose rocks on every possible route. The trail is the safest way, but is easy to loose. I recommend leaving the dogs behind for this one." — Jeb • Sep 9, 2011

"After grabbing Kendall Peak we headed back down the PCT to Commonwealth Basin and then up toward Red Pass. The scramble up and down the peak was some loose rocky terrain and to add to the challenge my legs began cramping up pretty bad due to some serious dehydration despite the several liters of water I had already consumed. This was a clear sunny day in the mid 80s. All that being said grabbing the peak was pretty rewarding and I decided to lay on a nice flat rock at the top for quite a while before heading back down. Thanks for bringing me along on this one Jeb!" — Al-Rashid • Sep 9, 2011

A note on Prominence

A peak’s prominence, also known as topographic prominence or relative height, is a measure of how distinct a peak is from other peaks. It’s defined as the vertical distance between a peak and the lowest contour line surrounding that peak and no higher peak. Prominence is a popular metric for peaks for two reasons: 1) it’s objective and relatively easy to calculate, and 2) higher prominence peaks are more likely to be interesting with higher independence vs. peaks with lower prominence.

Note that prominence is not the same thing as a peak’s vertical drop, which is usually extremely difficult to calculate because a peak’s base elevation can be highly subjective. Instead, peakery shows vertical gain for specific routes up peaks.

Prominence ranks are calculated only for peaks with known prominence. Note that since many peaks in peakery still have unknown prominence, the ranks are subject to change as new prominence info is added.

About peakery awards

Log successful summits on peakery to earn awards:

Peak Badges: Earn a special badge for each unique peak you summit. See all of your badges on your Badges page.

First Ascent Award: Only 1 available per peak. Goes to the first peakery member to log a successful summit of a peak. Snag this award and the peak will forever bear your name.

King of the Mountain Award: Only 1 available per peak. Summit a peak more times than any other member. Beware: this award can be lost!

Summit Steward: Summit a peak at least 5 times to become one of its Summit Stewards. As Steward of a peak, you’re encouraged to keep that peak’s info up-to-date on peakery and spread goodwill on your future climbs up the peak.

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